Canadian Policy Wiki:Long term abuse/Willy on Wheels
Willy on Wheels is a page move vandal. As of February 2006, he has more than 1500 suspected sockpuppets. Willy is by far Wikipedia's most prolific vandal and his negative actions have continued for quite some time. An indication of his prolific vandal status was seen on April Fool's 2005, when he was nominated for adminship. The 43rd Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense page was also named ON WHEELS!!!, a homage to Willy's page move style. All this notwithstanding, recent MediaWiki and Wikipedia developments have helped in the fight against this vandal. Many other vandals create usernames that look like WoW accounts; unless the account actually vandalizes like Willy, such as the North Carolina vandal it should not be considered a proven WoW sockpuppet. Modus operandi # Accounts are created, frequently many at once, the vast majority of which contain the words "Willy on Wheels" or some variation thereon, sometimes plagiarizing well known users' names. # Using these accounts, random pages are chosen and within a short timespan are moved to different titles, usually by adding "on Wheels!" (e.g. Mr. Anstruther to Mr. Anstruther on Wheels!) or occasionally some other reference to his name (on Яails) (Prepending "Willypedia:" to everything). Identification There are 2 primary means of identifying attacks: # Any username containing the words "On Wheels" or any near permutation or discernible reference can be considered a WoW account, even if they are just WoW imitators. Sometimes, synonyms or interlangual terms of "wheels" and "willy" depending on how the terms are used will fall into the WoW category whenever a "X on Y" username is made. Be sure to replace the userpage with and add them to the second list below. If the name seems on the outer edge of likelihood, add or below it or on the talk page. # Any pagemove to some name that follows the WoW nomenclature is regarded as proof that the account is an active Willy sockpuppet. Block and tag as above, but add to the first list below (The ones that have been actually used for vandalism). Action There are also 2 major means of attack and defense against Willy: # Because of the nature of WoW's attackes, any account that looks suspiciously like one of his (as described above) may be blocked indefinitely without warning. Any account that moves pages as described above can be considered a Willy sockpuppet and dealt with in the same way. # Pagemoves are restricted, requiring more time between account registration and the first page move in order to keep WoW names exposed for longer and accounts that move several pages rapidly are blocked so the moves can be looked at and reverted if need be. Other appearances and connections * Mr. Pelican Shit may be Willy. * The Communism vandal is possibly Willy. * MilkMan may also be Willy, but is currently considered a separate user. * The Loyola vandal has been alleged to be Willy. Accounts and aliases Please add other accounts, IPs, or sightings if you see them; use the syntax (dd Month year) where WoW is the name you are adding. Also, change any spaces in the username to underscores (_). Category:Wikipedia:Suspected sockpuppets of Willy on Wheels contains a list of users containing the Willy template. Used accounts :All accounts in this list have been used for Willy on Wheels-type vandalism, though they may not all be run by the same person. To see all accounts that are suspected of being Willy on Wheels, see Category:Wikipedia:Suspected sockpuppets of Willy on Wheels. Suspected accounts ''A list of all accounts suspect of being Willy on Wheels can be seen at Category:Wikipedia:Suspected sockpuppets of Willy on Wheels. They category lists suspicious accounts that were blocked before they could be used for malicious behavior or didn't act like WoW. IP addresses Some IPs used: * (a blueyonder.co.uk proxy) * * * * (24 July, 2005) * 65.167.69.0/24 range (Homestar Runner Wiki) * 205.188.0.0/16 range (Homestar Runner Wiki) * * Open proxies used The following have been used for WoW style vandalism and are open proxies, and so have been banned indefinitely (or until the administrator closes down the proxy server): Inter-Wiki Appearances * Wikinfo: Willy one wheels (23 September 2004) * mozilla.wikicities:Ph43r (contribs) (21 April 2005) * en.wikiquote:Willy_on_Wheels! (21 May 2005) * wikitravel:Willy_on_Wheels! (7 July 2005) * hrwiki:Willy_on_Wheels! (11 July 2005) * encyclopediadramatica:Willy_on_wheels (4 Aug 2005) * wikitravel:Jimbo Wales (14 Aug 2005) * hrwiki:WILLY_ON_WHEELS! (14 Aug 2005) * hrwiki:Homer_Simpson_on_Wheels! (15 Aug 2005) * en.wikiquote:Willybot (25 August 2005) * en.wiktionary:Dark Lord Farley, For Us All (1 September 2005) * hrwiki:Be's careful (3 September 2005) * hrwiki:BlueJay (4 September 2005) * hrwiki:Joey-Day (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:ITS DOT COM! (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:Jimbo Wales (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:BazokaJoe (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:Testing (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:No wheels (28 September 2005) * hrwiki:!!Jimbo Wales on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) * hrwiki:!!AOL on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) * hrwiki:Bkmlb (2 October 2005) - Impersonating legitimate user. Account deleted; legitimate user name moved. * hrwiki:!!Admin on WHEELS!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!BAZOOKA JOE ON WHEELS!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Bubs on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Coach Z on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Grape Nuts on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Homesar on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Homestar runner on wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!It's dot com! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Its dot org!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!JOEY DAY ON WHEELS!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Marzipan on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Spam on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Strong Bad on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Strong Mad on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Strong Sad on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!The Cheat on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Vandal on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!WILLY ON WHEELS (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!WILLY ON WHEELS!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Wheels on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Wheels without Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!!Willy on Wheels!! (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * hrwiki:!Willy on Wheels (2 October 2005) - sleeper account * wikispecies:I'm back! (11 November 2005) * wikispecies:Linuxbeak (11 November 2005) * wikispecies:Hardvice (11 November 2005) * wikispecies:Ha (11 November 2005) * Wikicities:c:comedy:User:Sunmare on Wheels (12 November 2005) (see Wikicities:c:comedy:Wikicomedy:Vandalism in progress/November 12, 2005 log for a description about Wikicomedy's vandalism) * Wikicities:c:comedy:User:Banned for Vandalism * Wikicities:c:comedy:User:Robbins on Wheels * wikicities:c:comedy:user:Kenny at KACL on Wheels! (15 November 2005) * Wikicities:c:comedy:user:Pelican Shit on Wheels (January 30) - keeps doing page moves with random characters, and Wikicomedy should be concerned about Willy. Somebody should use Wikicomedy more. 2006 * Willy on Wheels on Pete Ashdown's campaign wiki (4 January 2006) * hrwiki:Bkml (21 January 2005) - Impersonating legitimate user. * hrwiki:RC patrol bot v3.0 (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:RC VANDAL BOT (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:XEDYAB (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:TEBBAC (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:MEGHEE (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:RC PATROL BOT ON WHEELS (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:ERROR (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:SALTY (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:ITSDOTCOM (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:JOEYDAY (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:FIREBIRD (23 January 2006) * hrwiki:George W. Bush (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:BazookaJoseph (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:STORE (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:GUESTBOOK (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:FlamethrowerJoe (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:Qwerty (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:Jh9uy987ttrtider5d5rphaio8au8ahaoihao8hai7ha7igfyhfiuhu7hqgygqygaybbyfyhvhfuhrp (25 January 2006) * hrwiki:Homestar walker (26 January 2006) - Claimed to be WoW in September. Vandalism was unlike WoW until date specified. * hrwiki:Goudah (3 February 2006) * hrwiki:Zabulash (3 February 2006) * Wookieepedia:Geg On Wheels (13 March 2006) * Wookieepedia:Luke On Wheels (13 March 2006) * Simple:Jimbo WaIes (16 March 2006) - note that the "Wales" is actually Wa-capital i-es * hrwiki:Tow (18 March 2006) * hrwiki:How? (18 March 2006) * hrwiki:Willy on Merseyside Wheels (18 March 2006) * hrwiki:Homestar Runner Sucks Cock (Long Live WoW) (18 March 2006) * hrwiki:Suzzzai and hrwiki:Suzzzai1 (21 March 2006) * Wookieepedia:Willyiswheeks (21 March 2006) * hrwiki:Weston (22 March 2006) * hrwiki:William of sleehw (27 March 2006) * hrwiki:Skateboard! (27 March 2006) * hrwiki:Willy on Wheels (31 March 2006) * hrwiki:Picard on Wheels!!! (31 March 2006) * users listed at MetaWikipedia:Wikibooks/Socks (17 April 2006) Non-wiki Appearances ;Slashdot * Willy on Wheels on Slashdot (5 June 2005), in particular this http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=165699&cid=13821928 comment of October 18 2005. * Comment (6 December 2005) - A comment on slashdot regarding the feature that restricts new page creation by anons. ;Others * LA Times wiki which was shut down, probably partially due to WoW: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=153186&cid=12853950 (18 June 2005) * Franklinmint.fm message by Willy. (18 July 2005) * from bugmenot.com (31 Aug 2005) - public account on bugmenot.com (last few edits before blocking had Willy-style vandalism) * Willy on Wheels! on the WordPress Codex (31 October 2005) - vandalizing numerous pages; also did many page moves, but the moves don't show up in the contributions page due to the site running an older version of MediaWiki; check the deletion log for evidence See also *Canadian_Policy_Wiki:Username Willy on Wheels